What is your main OS besides the Amiga OSes and why?

[Heiroglyph]

Windows 7, because I use it for work every day, I've got all the development tools I could ever need, everything just works and is easily available.

People give Windows a lot of crap, but I haven't had a serious issue with it since about Windows 2000. It's pretty solid, if not sexy.

I've got at least one machine with pretty much any given OS, AOS3, Haiku, NetBSD, Linux, MorphOS, OSX, Amithlon (I call it an OS), you name it. Only cost is preventing an OS4 machine (hint, hint)

I like to keep my options open and love just trying new OSs.

[TeamBlackFox]

Eh, Windows is fine, if the following apply to you:

You're a GUI-oriented user
You care about how pretty your stuff looks
You play many games on your computer

None of the above apply to me. I stopped using GUI-based menus and configurations when I learned how much time I was wasting ( I am a faster typer than using a mouse ) and I care for functionality and speed rather than looks. Finally, I simply don't play many Windows exclusive games. I do play the Elder Scrolls on my Windows installation, as well as PSO Blue Burst and Touhou. Those simply aren't enough for me to run Windows on a daily basis.

In addition I found Windows impossible to program for compared to UNIX, as the latter has a set of well-defined extensions to C that I can count on being part of the OS and not changing with each ABI/API release. This is a problem that Windows has, as Touhou 6, for example, won't run on the latest version of Windows, Windows 8, without a compatibility mode change to Windows XP SP3. While I'm familiar enough with how to do this, many Windows users don't even know what most of the definitions of the properties menus are for. On BSD, I can do many of the same things the properties menu does with a simple command change, rather than navigate, select, apply, ok. Example: Permissions on BSD:

% chmod 755 foo.tar.bz

Windows: Right click on foo, Click Properties, Security, Select Permissions, Apply, OK.

There was someone who called FreeNAS Debian based, that is incorrect, it is 100% FreeBSD and is funded by iXSystems, also the major fund source for PC-BSD, one of the most advanced desktop-oriented operating systems currently around. In fact, when one of the developers for FreeNAS wanted to make it Debian-based, he was kicked out of the project because his reasoning behind it was flawed.

OS X is a piece of work - it is Mach trying to masquerade as UNIX with the help of a few 4.4BSD-derived kernel enhancements and a brain damaged fork of the FreeBSD userland, with a custom GUI layered over the same thing. Problem is, there are significantly more compatibility issues with Mac OS between versions than even Windows: Mac OS Classic applications won't run since 10.4, PowerPC OS X applications won't run since 10.6. That isn't a problem for me, as I admire their willingness to break compatibility, as it is a waste of libraries, code and processor die-space for the latest version of 32-bit Windows to be able to run basic 16-bit DOS applications. I digress, because I've already harped on why I don't use OS X.

Finally I see Fats referring to the GNU/Linux as 'Linux' but this is incorrect, as Linux is just the kernel, and there are versions such as Alpine Linux which use a minimum of GNU software such as uClibc, etc. I use GNU/Linux to denote the differences between those, and non-GNU variants like Android and Alpine. I use Android, but I didn't really include it here as using a mobile based OS for a main OS seems pretty impractical. Again, as a Randian believer in philosophy, I disagree with the approach of the FSF/GPL/GNU project to licencing, as it stifles innovation and encourages monopoly and domination. Red Hat dominates the GNU/Linux cathedral what with its constant meddling, and as I've worked with them before, I don't have any desire to be part of the parade for which they're the drum majors.

Note I'm not criticising people here, but merely explaining my rationale for not using those.

[yssing]

Eh, Windows is fine, if the following apply to you:

You're a GUI-oriented user
You care about how pretty your stuff looks
You play many games on your computer

Or if all your customers uses windows and what you are developing is SW for your customers.

Windows is actually really easy to develop on.

[ElPolloDiabl]

I've started to dislike Windows again, because of the difficulty in setting up a dual boot system. Linux has no difficulty with this.

[TeamBlackFox]

Or if all your customers uses windows and what you are developing is SW for your customers.

Windows is actually really easy to develop on.

Not for C, and not for people who dislike using GUIs or IDEs. Windows' lack of of a native, supported POSIX implementation forces a UNIX developer like me to use MinGW, which means I can't use a proprietary or BSD licence if I want to statically link my code. I don't want to rewrite code to use proprietary APIs, because that would effectively mean that I would have to fork my Windows implementations and divide my efforts. Use of proprietary or custom C library calls tends to introduce bugs and security issues into the code, as shown by the OpenSSL project. LibreSSL has been fixing this by returning to use of standard C library calls existent in almost every standard libc. However, I, like many other people, prefer to use the POSIX libraries since, besides Windows, Amiga and a few other platforms, they're moreorless universal, and the majority of implementations are open source.

[klx300r]

Win 7 Pro for work so I can run AutoCad and my accounting package software and all the rest I use Amiga OS4.1, Amiga OS3.9, & Amiga OS1.3.  My mobile miggies run Aspire OS & Amikit (OS3.5).

[Fats]

Finally I see Fats referring to the GNU/Linux as 'Linux' but this is incorrect, as Linux is just the kernel, and there are versions such as Alpine Linux which use a minimum of GNU software such as uClibc, etc.

I don't mind being incorrect but I am using Linux and I mean with that all distro's with Linux as the kernel. Android is a border case in my twisted mind as it (currently) needs a heavily modified kernel.
Humans are irrational; trying to be rational can cause mental problems.

[Plaz]

trying to be rational can cause mental problems.

Well said.  

Plaz

[krashan]

Ubuntu Linux for everyday internet activity and communication, it is more stable, gives more privacy and is not plagued with malware, like Windows. However I also use Windows 7 for games and WinUAE.

[Karlos]

@TeamBlackFox

You are meerschaum aka mips_proc and I claim my five pounds :lol:

[amoskodare]

On my smartphones (more than two ) I use Android though, before it I used (I still have the phone at home and working) Maemo 5 (on my first smartphone)...

[Andeda]

OSX Snow Leopard at home and Windows 7 ant work. WP8.1 on my Windowsphone and IOS on my iPad.

[yssing]

@TeamBlackFox >> Well the customers I work with uses GUI's since they are regular users.
Maybe your customers are more into consoles, but that can hardly be true for the majority of users.
Personally I dislike using consoles. But that is the beauty of computers, there is something for everyone.

[ElPolloDiabl]

@ above
He will love typing when he gets RSI. lol
I like Windows when you have the latest version and only a few applications installed. It works fine. When you ask it to do more I start getting problems.

After a session using Amiga OS I come back to Windows and notice it could do with some improvements especially in the gui.

[tone007]

BSD: % chmod 755 foo.tar.bz

Windows: CACLS filename /e /p {USERNAME}:{PERMISSION}

FTFY.  Seems a bit more flexible than the UNIX command as well, as you can specify an individual user as well as a group.

[trekiej]

Windows: More drivers and software. Multi-core.
Linux: Not windows. Multi-core.
Haiku-OS: I like BeOS. Not windows. Multi-core. Still Beta.